Every Day Birds Collaborative Art

Every Day Birds is an excellent example of simple, beautiful, and engaging nonfiction for kids. Even your smallest ornithologists will love this book! Each page features a different common backyard bird accompanied by Dylan Metrano's incredible cut paper work and Amy Ludwig VanDerwater's sweetly rhythmic verse. I especially love the extra visual glossary at the end of the book, giving some additional information for older kids looking for a little more.

The picture on the right is an example from the glossary at the back of the book. Such great info!

Knowing that these illustrations are created using cut paper gives you a whole new appreciation for each spread. Check out this incredible video on his process:

We tried imitating the black outline style of Dylan Metrano's illustrations with a simple collaborative project. I used black oil pastel to draw a few designs based on Metrano's work in Every Day Birds:

Then I set up my three year old with these pictures and some watercolors and let her go to town!

The black oil pastel resists the water color, making for some incredible results:

Check your local library for Every Day Birds, and if you love it as much as we do, click on the picture below to purchase your own copy!